Ilana Gunson, at The Blogs

Apr 16, 2024, 12:39 AM

Pro-BDS students gather in the Marshall Student Center holding big cloth signs and covering their faces.

Boycott. Divest. Sanctions. At the University of South Florida, these words have come to mean more than the sum of their parts. Last Tuesday night, we sat for seven hours in the student center’s student government senate chambers as our...

Apr 5, 2024, 6:50 PM

The Political Existence

Imagine I am sitting across from two people. Person A is Jewish, and Person B is not. I have just recited to them enthusiastically the rules of the word association game. They have agreed to play. But instead of...

Mar 28, 2024, 8:57 PM

Reclaiming a Jewish Childhood as an Adult

A young Ilana smiles behind a small menorah, lit fully on the eighth night of Hanukkah. (courtesy)

Before I write this column, and before you read it, I think it is only fair that we establish some ground rules. I am Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I bake challah every week for our Shabbat dinners. I...

Mar 17, 2024, 12:40 PM

Irrefutable

Simply from reading the title of this week’s column, I am sure many of you let out small sighs of disapproval– not with me, dear reader, no, the disapproval I am referring to comes in heavy waves after the...

About Me

Though originally from London, Ilana resides in Florida and is a sophomore at the University of South Florida, as well as the Student Body President of USF Hillel. Ilana is a Jewish student on the front line fighting to combat antisemitism and support Israel. She loves to read and to write, and is the author of her Hillel's weekly column, 'B is for Boobah'. She is an Emerson Fellow for StandWithUs and is very passionate about being Jewish!